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Judson

#934 in 2025Boys' name

Jordan (river), through Jordan

Judson has been given to 13,881 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #934 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2023, with 282 recorded.

Babies named Judson, 2025

1 in 13,200

Judson over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Judson: meaning, origin, and history

Jordan (river), through Jordan

surname transfer

What Judson means

Judson belongs to the name family reached through Judson → Jordan. Its meaning is “Jordan (river)”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From a Middle English short form of the given name Jordan + son.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Judson (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Judson is used in English. Its origins include surname transfer.

Judson is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Jordan.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Judson is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒʌdsən/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 13,881 boys were recorded with the name Judson between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 282 in 2023; its best national rank was #301 in 1880.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #873 in 2020 to #934 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #888 in 2015 to #934 in 2025.

How common is Judson?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 13,200
252 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 6,780
0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#934
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
9,120 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Judson sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5004%

Put another way: gather 9,120 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Judson. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Judsons were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Judson was born before 1978 — so the typical Judson is around 47 today.

Median birth year
1978
About 47 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
14.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
33.8%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
9,716
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 14.9% of all recorded uses (2,070).

Is Judson rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+23
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−61
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−46
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
1.01×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
89.4%
Peak was 2023 (282)
Years since peak
2
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
9.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#301
1880

Spellings of Judson

Judson is not the most common spelling — Jason is, with 79.9% against Judson's 1.1%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Judson is used

Across 2016–2025, Judson was most concentrated in Alabama — about 1 in 1,124 boys, against 1 in 6,420 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in 100,000).

189 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Alabama1 in 1,124
  2. 2Mississippi1 in 2,041
  3. 3South Carolina1 in 2,041
  4. 4Arkansas1 in 2,703
  5. 5Kentucky1 in 2,778
  6. 6Tennessee1 in 3,125
  7. 7Georgia1 in 3,333
  8. 8Missouri1 in 3,448

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Geographically, Judson is one of the more regionally concentrated names in the country — more concentrated than 92% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Judson around the world

Where Judson ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2022–2022
    #4,790
    in 2022
  • Canada
    2000–2022
    #1,611
    in 2022
  • South Australia
    1969–2013
    #754
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Judson

People whose public names include Judson, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Judson by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#934
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 61
Best rank ever
#301
1880
Peak year
2023
282 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
13,881
Count in 2025
252

Names similar to Judson

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

JuddsonBensonSamsonKaysonEdisonLawsonColsonKarsonJudahKaisonWatsonCaysonAddisonJudgeKasonStetsonGibsonJaysonCasonBronsonMaysonKysonMaisonJudd

Names with a curve like Judson

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Judson, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

AugustineCarloBentonBenedictThaddeusJeffersonMarcelEnochSantosAurelioAugustinDenver

Sibling names for Judson

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Judson

Top names of 2023, Judson's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 1880Boys' names starting with J